1. Countdown to Sochi With just three days until the Olympic Games begin, final preparations are underway, including the mass executions of stray dogs. You would think they might have done this sooner, just to avoid the mental image of slaughtered puppies so close to this event watched by people the world over. We can at least give President Putin points for not making the dog-executing an Olympic event. A tiny town in Maine is putting its weight behind a single Olympian who grew up skiing to and from school. Check out the more than forty Olympians from New England set to compete in Sochi. You might not be lucky (or brave) enough to attend the Olympics in person. But you can experience Sochi vicariously, which may well be the best way to experience it.

Hey all you #boycottcoke people, you know America the beautiful isn't our National Anthem right?

3. Grave-digging, ear biting and blood drinking. A day in the life of a Maine grave-digger. Spoiler: It’s not as glamorous as you might imagine. Think the Super Bowl party you got dragged to was bad? It probably was, but just be grateful you left with all your body parts intact. So you’ve probably heard about this guy who allegedly survived more than a year adrift at sea by drinking turtle blood and eating raw fish. But is that even possible? Apparently yes, with a little luck.

4. Move over, Molly. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death left three young children fatherless, and an Australian newspaper printed the most reprehensible tabloid headline in recent memory. More than 70 bags of heroin were found in the apartment where Philip Seymour Hoffman died this weekend. The NYPD has launched an “intense hunt” for Hoffman’s dealer. New York City is awash in cheap heroin. In Massachusetts and elsewhere, police carry Narcan, a drug that can instantly save someone from an overdose of opiates.